Is JJ Abrams holding Star Trek hostage?

CB Droege, 21st April 2012

Bryan Fuller and Bryan Singer have created a bevy of genre projects over the years. The duo is currently working together on the new Munsters reimagining, Mockingbird Lane. However, both Fuller and Singer have also expressed interest in collaborating on a new Star Trek television series.

Perhaps not unsurprisingly, Paramount, which owns the film and television rights to Star Trek, seems to have entrusted the franchise to JJ Abrams. And much like in the days of Gene Rodenberry, no one can do anything in the vast Star Trek universe without him.

"I don’t think anything is going to happen in any official capacity until after the next movie comes out,” Fuller told Entertainment Weekly. "And I’m sure it would be wisely under J.J. Abrams’ purview of what happens. He’s the guardian of Trek right now."

Unfortunately, unlike Roddenberry, Abrams is not just thinking about Star Trek, as he’s a very popular genre filmmaker with a lot of projects on his plate. The likelihood that he would have time to personally develop and produce a new Star Trek series is quite low.

Perhaps if the upcoming sequel does well at the box office, CBS - a subsidiary of Paramount - will see clear to allow the creation of a show which Abrams perhaps only produces or consults for, leaving him open to pursue other projects without sacrificing the so-called "Abrams vision" for the franchise.

Any Star Trek show, of course, would be instantly popular with the Trekkie fanbase, which is not insubstantial. The only aspect I’d be worried about is that Paramoiunt may actually try to continue the adventure of the crew from the films.

This would be a mistake for a couple of reasons. Not the least of which being that the films have several actors in key roles who are only film actors, and would be unlikely to ever sign on for a television show. If they change the actors for the show, it would be a real blow to the franchise.

Frankly, I’d prefer if CBS decided to tell the story of one of the Enterprise crews which fell between the original series and The Next Generation, a gap of about 200 years and 4 ships. No need to rehash the same crew, leave them in the films for now, there are plenty of other stories to write.

The untitled Star Trek sequel is currently in production and slated to hit theaters on May 17th, 2013.